The MASAI Project (Men Acting with Strength and Initiative)

The MASAI Study was a qualitative research project that aimed to build a theoretical framework for the structural and cultural context of sexuality and HIV among 60 HIV- and HIV+ bisexually active Black men in the San Francisco Bay Area. A one-time qualitative interview asked about sexual identity and practices, HIV risk, disclosure, and incarceration.

Funder: California HIV/AIDS Research Program/IDEA
Dates: March 2009-March 2011
Lead Faculty: Cynthia Gómez and Sonja Mackenzie 

News:

Preliminary findings were presented in two presentations at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. Read the abstracts below:

• The MASAI Project: Developing Ethnographic and Field Approaches to the Recruitment of Bisexually Active African American Men 

• Reframing the Down Low: The Social Context of HIV Risk among Bisexually Active African American Men

Findings were also presented in two presentations at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association: 

• Relationship Context of HIV Prevention among Bisexually Active Black Men

• Negotiating Masculinity: Sex and Incarceration among HIV- and HIV+ Bisexually Active Black Men 

Highlighted Outcomes:

Data analysis focused on masculinity, relationships with female partners, incarceration, and the structural context of HIV vulnerability.